The Trouble in the Lab
by DrHoneyChuckles
Summary: Someone wants Hodgins' money. And they want it now. Angela and Sweets find themselves in a sticky situation.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: So this is just a random idea that popped into my head and wouldn't go away. (My dad holds part of the blame.) So my reason for making this fic was because there is not enough Angela stories that actually have nothing to do with Romance. AND because I wanted to show off Sweets' amazing gun skills. XD I hope you enjoy! This is only supposed to be a two or three-shot, but may evolve into something more._

_Disclaimer: Bones is not mine. :( I do own some of the dvds though!_

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><p>It was a normal day at the Jeffersonian. Things were calm and relatively quiet. Doctor Brennan was hunched over looking at some remains. Her intern for that day, Mister Finn Abernathy, was right beside her. Cam had just finished scooping out some remaining organs and had started taking some flesh samples. Hodgins had just walked off the forensic platform with a big grin and petri dishes full of bugs.<p>

Angela brushed past him on her way over to the platform. She smiled as she saw the grin that was plastered on her husband's face. She wasn't sure how someone could love those six-legged creatures that much.

Sweets was just walking through the glass double doors. "Is Agent Booth here?" he called.

"You just missed him." Cam replied.

"Aw, man." Sweets complained. Under his arm was a box that appeared to be full of papers.

"And what might this be?" Angela asked as she walked up beside the psychologist and patted the cardboard box. "Love notes from Lancelot?"

"Err… No." Sweets face turned red at the thought. "These are all of the victim's cell phone records that I had to go through. I sorted out the important messages and who he contacted the most."

"Ah." Angela replied and slid her card to start going up the steps to the platform.

Finn looked up in the direction of Sweets and Angela and his eyes got wide. "Doctor Brennan, watch out!"

That's when the first gunshot rang out.

About four things happened at once.

One: Finn tackled Brennan to the ground and cried out as a bullet went into his shoulder.

Two: Sweets instinctively turned and pulled his gun, but soon saw that he was heavily outnumbered.

Three: Angela was shoved roughly under a table by Cam.

Four: They all saw that six men stood at the sliding glass doors. All of them were armed to the teeth in weapons.

Sweets kept his hand firmly on his gun. His heartbeat had jumped to his throat. His palms started sweating. One man of the six pointed his gun above all of their heads and pulled the trigger. The automatic weapon shattered the windows above their heads. Alarms started going off.

Hodgins heard the commotion and ran out of his office.

Sweets pulled the trigger of his weapon and the man with the automatic rifle dropped. Swets pulled the trigger another time and one more man dropped. Then a trigger was pulled on him.

Sweets felt agonizing pain ripple through his leg. He dropped to his knees.

"Ange?" Hodgins yelled.

"Jack!" Angela yelled. She was hunkered down beside the table Cam had pushed her behind. Cam and Brennan were on the opposite side of the table where they were putting pressure on Finn's wound.

The four men that were left started advancing toward the platform.

"Hodgins, get out of the way!" Sweets yelled. Hodgins was right in his line of fire.

Hodgins ignored him. He was focused on getting his wife out of trouble. "HEY!" he yelled. He managed to grab one guys shoulder. The man turned and rammed the butt of his gun against Hodgins' head. Hodgins dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"Jack!" Angela yelled.

Sweets winced as he pulled the trigger again. His shot went wide and ricocheted off of the railing of the stairs. He quickly shot again. Another man went down.

"I thought I took care of you." Someone growled. He turned and fired in Sweets' direction. Sweets had been expecting this and rolled out of the way. He muffled a cry that tried to make its way out as he put pressure on his leg. Another shot whizzed past his head. He quickly scrambled to his feet and limped over behind a table. He overturned it to create a barrier.

It didn't help much.

Another bullet plowed through the table and whizzed past his nose.

"What do you want?" Angela demanded.

"Jack Hodgins' money." The man replied. "And we're going to use you to get it."

Angela was frozen in fear. She felt like an idiot, just sitting there and quivering like a little school girl, but between the sight of Hodgins laying on the floor, Sweets' blood trail, and Finn's suppressed hisses she couldn't think of anything else to do.

A gun shot rang out and another of the three dropped. Cam breathed a sigh that they had a gun in the room. She regretted ever doubting that Sweets could handle a gun.

"Get that kid!" The man who appeared to be the leader yelled. There was only two of them left.

The leader pulled something out of his vest and quickly advanced towards Angela.

"Get away from me!" She cried.

Brennan felt her gut twisting. She desperately wished she could do something to help Angela, but her and Cam's hands were the only things keeping Finn from bleeding to death. Something told her that they wouldn't hurt Angela. They needed her alive.

Faster than Angela could react she found her hands bound and over top of the man's shoulder. She kicked and screamed and cussed.

Sweets didn't hear the man approaching his little barricade and was shocked when he felt a hand grab his shirt collar. He was roughly pulled up and then slammed back down on the floor. The air in his lungs left with a whoosh. "We're going to teach you a lesson or two." He growled and then slammed his gun against Sweets' head. The man quickly brought out some flex-cuffs and snapped them on Sweets' wrists. He then drug Sweets behind the leader.

The two gunman and their captives quickly walked out a back door where a van and a driver was waiting for them.

The cops showed up two seconds later.


	2. Chapter 2

Sweets groaned slightly as he started coming to his senses. The blurry room slowly came into focus and he realized that Angela was saying his name.

"Sweets? Sweets, are you alright?"

" 'm fine." He managed. His head thudded like a stampede of elephants had just ran him over. And his leg… He looked down and gagged. A gaping hole had been cut through his thigh and he swore he could see the bone. He hoped he was just imagining it. He looked around and saw that they must be in a basement. The floor was gritty and gray and the walls were the same color. No natural light was let in and Sweets wondered how they were getting oxygen until he saw a vent in the ceiling with some streamers hanging from it that were fluttering gently. His hands were tied around a bar behind him and he could feel Angela's hands below his. He assumed her hands were also bound. "Hm?" he asked as he realized Angela had asked him a question.

"How's your leg?"

"Hurts." His head lolled back and he felt it brush against Angela's shoulder. "Sorry." He murmured.

"It's fine, Sweets. By all means, please use my shoulder as a pillow." She replied.

Sweets wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not because his brain was still a bit scrambled, but leaned his head back again. "We'll get out of this, Angela." He tried to comfort.

Angela appreciated the effort, but she was pretty freaked out right now. She'd just gotten off the phone with Hodgins. They were demanding a _very _high amount of money, but since they weren't going to send proof of life Hodgins wouldn't be able to use the kidnapping trust. And since it was over his budgeted amount he'd never get away with secretly transferring it. Just because he was the sole heir didn't mean he could go spending millions of dollars willy nilly. He had to get approval from the board for the over expensive things.

"Well, well, well. The doc's awake." Sweets recognized the voice as the one that had appeared to be the leader of the raid against the Jeffersonian. The man walked into view and squatted in front of Sweets. He had close cropped brown hair and a rough beard. His eyes were a piercing blue that seemed to stare into a person's soul. He was very muscular with his arm being about as thick as Sweets' thigh. "You killed four of my men." He stated gruffly.

Sweets suddenly got queasy at the reminder. Adrenaline quickly unscrambled his brain and he thought of the best way to play up the situation. "I was doing you a favor. Less men on the job means more money for you."

The leader shrugged. "True. I guess you just made my job a bit easier. I was going to kill them eventually."

"Exactly." Sweets agreed.

The man pulled out his gun from its holster and held it in front of Sweets' face. "That doesn't mean you can kill them without my permission." He held the gun up next to Sweets' head and pulled the trigger.

Sweets flinched away and found his hearing had been completely replaced with a ring. It terrified him that he couldn't hear anything else. He felt something swish past his hands and suddenly he was on his face. He was rolled over and three men were hovering over him. He saw their mouths moving, but couldn't understand what they were saying.

"What?" he croaked. It scared him even more when he couldn't even hear his own voice. They appeared to be shouting now. They started kicking. Sweets was only aware of the ringing in his ears and the pain sporadically placed all over his body. Someone stepped on his gunshot wound and Sweets yelled in pure agony as fire burned up his leg and coursed through his body in powerful jolts. His pain riddled mind figured that the bullet had to be lodged against the bone. That's the only way it would hurt this much. Another well placed kick to the stomach had him throwing up his lunch.

Angela had gotten as far away as she could when she'd looked over her shoulder and saw the gun there. That meant she hadn't been deafened when the gun went off. "Sweets!" she had yelled. Sweets didn't reply. A blade had nicked her hand as Sweets' bonds were cut. Her heart pounded as she thought for a moment that Sweets could be dead. They could have just killed him right there, but she hadn't felt a blood spatter. He had to still be alive. He _had _to. They started talking about what they were going to do with him, how they could do whatever they wanted to him since he wasn't a part of the ransom deal. Angela had protested. They'd yelled at her to shut up. And then she'd turned her head to see they had started kicking Sweets.

She wished she were deaf. She wished she hadn't cowered away from the gun so that her hearing would be gone. She wished she didn't have to hear the sounds that were coming from Sweets. Tears started pouring down her face when she'd heard him cry out like a dying animal. "STOP IT!" she yelled.

And they did.

The man that had identified himself as Stephen Nisky, the leader, came over and crouched in front of her. "You should consider yourself lucky that your husband made us promise not to lay a finger on you." He purred. He put his hand up and brushed her cheek. The move would have been tender and loving if it hadn't been from him. Angela jerked her head and bit his finger. Hard. She kept biting until she tasted the iron of blood. Stephen ripped his hand away and rattled off a few cuss words. He walked out of the room with the two other men behind him and slammed the door shut.

"Sweets?" Angela called as soon as the door was shut.

Sweets' hearing had started to return slightly. He tried to pick himself up, but couldn't manage to put weight on his left wrist. Using his elbow he managed to roll over onto his back and relieve some pressure from his leg. Black spots danced in his vision from the effort and he would consider himself lucky if he didn't pass out.

"Sweets? Answer me, please?" Angela pleaded.

"Still alive." Sweets managed weakly.

A slight smile broke out on Angela's face. "Just hang in there, Sweets, alright? I'm sure Booth is on his way to find us right now."

_-break-_

Booth had pulled away from the Jeffersonian at 12:43 PM. He'd arrived at the FBI Building at 1:06. At 1:10 he'd gotten a call on his cell from a panicked Dr. Brennan. He was pulling back into the Jeffersonian and sprinting back to the Medico-Legal Lab by 1:21. Brennan met him at the doors.

"Bones! Are you alright?" He called and quickly embraced her.

"I'm fine, Booth." She pushed away. "The baby's fine too. Mister Abernathy, Hodgins, Angela, and Sweets are not though." She quickly rushed out.

"What happened here?" He demanded quickly. He looked up and scanned the floor. Paramedics were leaning over Hodgins who had been strapped into a stretcher. Various blood trails were splattered across the floor and he counted four bodies. He also saw Cam walking over to him.

"Doctor Brennan, why don't you go with Hodgins to the hospital? They're going to the same hospital as Finn." She said quickly.

Brennan nodded and walked with the paramedics that were rolling the unconscious Hodgins out the doors. Booth turned to face Cam. "Explain. Now."

Cam looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. Booth noticed that her hands were covered in dry blood. She brushed her hand through her hair. "We were ambushed. Six men came through the doors shooting. Finn pushed Brennan out of the way of a bullet, Sweets took down four of the men, and then they took Angela and Sweets."

Booth's brows creased in confusion, but his shoulders released their tension. He reminded himself to thank both Finn and Sweets later. But this wasn't making any sense. He understood that Cam was frazzled, but needed the information. "Why did they take Angela and Sweets?"

"I don't know!" Cam replied and put her hand on her forehead as an expression of exasperation. "They… um…" She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. Her eyes shot open as her thoughts pulled themselves together. "They wanted Hodgins' money. That's why they took Angela."

"Why didn't they just kill Sweets?" Booth asked. "Why did they take him?"

They both reached the same conclusion at the same time.

"To teach him a lesson." Cam stated.

They both knew all too well what that meant.

"I'm getting FBI forensics over here now." Booth said and pulled out his cell. He hit a speed dial button and then held it to his ear. "I'm also going to throw a net over D.C. How long ago did they leave?"

Cam shook her head. "Ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago?"

Booth started barking orders into his phone. _No one _messed with his people and got away with it. Especially when one of them was carrying his baby girl.

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><p><em>AN: And here's the second chapter! =D Thanks for all the great reviews, guys/gals! I really wasn't expecting much for this one, but you guys brought my hopes up!_


	3. Chapter 3

Angela could hear some yelling and then a man came back in and plopped a bucket of water and a washcloth down in front of Angela.

Angela felt the bonds holding her wrists being cut and felt feeling rush back into her fingers.

"Clean him up." The man said gruffly. He was referring to the bucket and the cloth. He walked out and shut the door.

Angela quickly got up and moved over to Sweets' side. Tears welled up in her eyes. She knelt down and pulled the bucket over. She carefully dipped the washcloth in the bucket and then wiped the sweat off of Sweets' forehead. His eyes flitted up to her as he felt the cold sensation on his brow.

"I'm sorry." Sweets apologized as he saw a tear sneak down Angela's cheek. His ears were still ringing, but not as much as they had been. That meant he could hear how pitiful his voice sounded and how Angela's breathing sounded like she was going to burst into tears.

"It wasn't your fault." Angela replied.

"It may as well have been." Sweets replied.

Angela shook her head and wrung out the cloth. "Don't say that, Sweets." She wiped a trickle of blood from his chin.

Sweets felt pathetic lying on this grimy cement floor and not being able to move without wincing. Where was the Macho Man that had… pulled of the… He gulped down the bile that rose in his throat as he recalled what had happened at the Jeffersonian. He had committed a quadruple homicide.

A quadruple homicide.

It made him want to commit a singular suicide.

Sweets figured his eyes must have betrayed his feelings because Angela hurriedly started talking. "Am I hurting you, Sweets? I'm so, so sorry. I can stop-"

"It's not you." Sweets assured. He swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut. Crying was just what Angela needed to see right now. He grimaced slightly as Angela touched a tender spot. His eyes shot back open. "I committed a quadruple homicide, Angela." He blurted.

Angela was taken aback. "No, Sweets. What you did was protect your friends… your family. You are _not _like one of those whack jobs you profile."

"But I am." Sweets replied. "Those whack jobs can say they were just protecting their family, but they get thrown in jail anyways."

"Sweets. Look at me." Angela demanded. "You are _NOT _one of them. You hear me? You are a good kid and all you were doing was protecting people you care about. Alright?"

"Alright." Sweets agreed.

Angela nodded and then her gaze went down to Sweets' leg. Sweets struggled to lift his head up and look. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"N-not that bad." Angela stuttered.

Sweets dropped his head back down onto the floor. "It's bad isn't it?"

Angela managed a weak smile. "Not really." She didn't want to admit that the sight of the ghastly wound made her want to vomit. "I can't really see it that well." It was a partial truth. His dark colored pants were matted into the wound.

"Is it still bleeding?" Sweets asked.

"I can't tell." Angela replied honestly.

Angela met Sweets' eyes and there was an unspoken conversation between the two. Angela had watched enough movies to know what happened next. Sweets had enough medical knowledge to know what to do next.

"No, Sweets!" Angela protested at the same time Sweets said, "If it hasn't stopped bleeding you have to make a tourniquet."

"Sweets, you could lose your leg!"

"Angela, please." Sweets begged. His voice cracked and he squeezed his eyes shut.

That's when Angela realized this had to be ten times harder for him than it was for her. She cleared her throat. "I'm going to have to… um…"

Sweets' good hand fiddled with his belt buckle. Angela's face turned red. Sweets was in too much pain to care. While Sweets handled his belt Angela took off the poor psychologist's shoes. The sentences, "This is so awkward.", "I hate these people.", and "This has to be painful." kept running through Angela's head.

_-break-_

Hodgins was steaming. Cam had never seen his face so red or heard his voice so loud. "They took Ange?" he had yelled when Cam had broken the news. Hodgins' recollection of the event had been a little fuzzy, so Cam had told him.

"Hodgins, Sweets shot and killed four of the men in an attempt to save Angela while getting shot himself." Brennan replied.

"Remind me to thank him later." Hodgins was fuming.

"Booth is working on tracking them down." Cam said calmly.

"Well I apologize if that doesn't bring me much comfort." Hodgins spat.

"I understand your feelings." Brennan said. "But Booth has the highest success rate in the entire FBI. If there is anyone that can find Angela and Sweets it's him."

"Wait… They took Sweets too?" Hodgins asked. His anger seemed to have dimmed slightly and his shoulders sagged. Exhaustion was starting to creep into his demeanor. Cam thanked the medicine gods that his high power medication was starting to take effect.

Cam nodded. "They…" she glanced at Brennan. She hadn't mentioned the why part in front of her yet. "They wanted to teach him a lesson."

Hodgins winced. "I'm going to help." He jumped down off of the hospital bed and immediately tumbled into Cam as an intense wave of dizziness swept over him and indescribable pain throbbed through his head. "Ahh." He hissed as he put his hands to his head and squeezed his eyes shut. Cam caught the entomologist and was hit with a pang of sympathy.

"You are not in the best condition to be walking around." Brennan said gently.

Hodgins was mainly focusing on staying conscious so he merely managed an, "Mmhm." Cam led him over to sit on the bed.

When Hodgins finally opened his eyes again he was utterly confused. "Wait… They took Ange?"

Cam's brow creased in concern. "Hodgins, you talked to the kidnappers. You talked to them, passed out again, and then they brought you here."

"We just explained this less than a minute ago." Brennan added.

Hodgins' face turned pale and sweat broke out on his brow.

"Hodgins?" Cam asked.

"I think I'm gonna throw up." He managed.

_-break-_

Angela had finally managed to scrub off the dried blood from Sweets' leg. She had made sure not to go anywhere near the actual bullet hole, but Sweets was still wincing the entire time. "Is there an exit wound?" Sweets asked through gritted teeth.

Angela gently fingered the bottom of Sweets' leg. "There's nothing here, Sweets."

Sweets kept his jaw clenched and his eyes closed. "Can you see the bullet?"

"Sweets, I am _not _going digging through your leg to pull a hunk of metal out." Angela said as she gently rested Sweets' leg back on the floor. The water in the bucket had turned blood red.

"Just give me a minute." Sweets mumbled and put a hand over his eyes. Angela could see the gears in his head turning and decided to give him some space. While she did that she looked down at her hands and saw that she had blood underneath her nails and a red tint to her hands from dipping them in the bucket.

Sweets dropped his hand from his face and started pulling himself up into a sitting position. "They want me cleaned up for a reason. I don't know what yet, but it's for a reason. I have a plan, but your actions have to be genuine or else they'll break their pact with Hodgins. Understand?"

"You expect me to just play along while you put your neck on the line?" Angela asked.

"Exactly." Sweets replied. "So stay here." He grabbed the pole with both of his hands and started to pull himself up.

"Sweets! You can't walk on that leg! It'll just start bleeding all over again!" Angela protested.

"Cut it out, Angela." Sweets snapped. He was standing upright now. He was leaning heavily on the pole. Angela had no idea how Sweets was going to be able to put any pressure on his leg.

Sweets gently started putting pressure on his leg. He winced, but continued to put more pressure on. As he tried to step forward he cried out and collapsed sideways. He knocked over the bucket and it splashed across Sweets' shirt. The effect made was that his whole torso looked as if it were covered in blood. What Angela noticed though was how hard he hit his head off of the cement floor. His eyes rolled up into his head and he started jerking violently.

Angela gasped and then ran over to the door. "HEY!" She yelled and pounded with her fists. "Something's wrong with Sweets!"

The door swung open a few seconds later and one of Stephen's cronies came in. He dashed over to the still jerking Sweets and reached down to touch his shoulder.

Sweets' jerking suddenly stopped and both of his hands shot out to grab a hold of the man's wrist. Sweets pulled him over and the two started rolling across the floor. Angela stood there in shocked silence. He'd faked the seizure. Sweets kicked with his good leg and planted his foot in the man's abdomen. The man doubled over, but Sweets didn't stay on the floor. Making sure not to put any pressure on his bad leg he launched himself up and tackled the man's waist. They both went rolling and Sweets swallowed the cry that rose in his throat as pain seared through his leg. Something skidded across the cement floor towards Angela and she hurriedly picked it up. She stuffed it into her bra before anyone could see.

The other two by now had heard the struggle. They ran in and pulled Sweets off of their comrade. One good hit with the butt of Stephen Nisky's gun was all it took for Sweets to go out like a light. He flattened out onto his stomach.

"That kid's got a good punch." The man who had been tackled muttered as he wiped blood from under his nose.

"Shut up, Nathan." Stephen barked. "What happened here?"

"The kid faked a seizure!" Nathan yelled back. "I ran over to help and he tackled me!"

"You." Stephen turned his harsh gaze on Angela. "Did you help him plan this?"

"No!" Angela protested. "He tried standing and he fell over and hit his head. I thought he was really having a seizure!"

Stephen's eyes narrowed, but he seemed to believe her. "Let's get him out of here. It's about time anyways." The two others grabbed Sweets by his ankles and roughly started to drag him across the floor. Sweets moaned, but appeared to still be unconscious.

"Wait! What are you going to do with him?" Angela called as Sweets disappeared around the corner.

Stephen smiled wickedly. "Just a friendly game of Russian Roulette."

The door slammed shut with a resonating boom.

Angela backed up to the wall and slid down into a sitting position. She pulled out the object Sweets had managed to pass to her during his tussle and knew it was the only thing that would keep Sweets alive.

A cell phone.

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><p><em>AN: And the new chapter has been postificated! Thanks for all the reviews and alerts, everyone! They mean a lot. :D_


	4. Chapter 4

Doctor Brennan was sitting in Finn's room with Cam. Finn wasn't actually there yet, but he'd gotten out of surgery just fine and had been in recovery for a few hours. They said he was going to make a full recovery. The doctors were just taking a few notes and then he'd be wheeled in.

Brennan wasn't exactly sure what to think about Finn's actions. If Finn hadn't shoved her out the way she and possibly her baby would have been severely injured. She thought it was illogical. She could understand why Booth would take the bullet. If their places had been switched she certainly would have taken the bullet for Booth. But why did Finn do it? Finn did not have any emotional ties to her. The only tie they had was that they worked together and that she was his boss. So why did he do it?

The door opened and the hospital bed was rolled in.

Finn was quite pale, but from what Brennan could tell looked very good for a bullet going in his shoulder and through his chest cavity. Cam said some things to the doctors while Brennan quickly snatched up the clipboard that was hanging at the bottom of the bed. She quickly skimmed over it and absorbed as much information as possible. When Cam was done with the doctors, Brennan butted in. "I trust you took x-rays?"

"We did." The doctor confirmed.

"I would like to look at them." Brennan replied as she placed the clipboard back on the end of the bed.

"I'll have them sent over." The doctor replied politely and then left the room.

Just down the hall, Hodgins was lying on his bed. He was feeling better now, but he still felt like he was on a boat. The earth titled one way and then back down the other way. He heard a shrill ringing that hurt his ears. He reached over to the side table and picked up his cell phone. "Hello?" He answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Jack!" Angela called.

"Ange?" Hodgins asked incredulously.

"Look, Jack, I don't have much time to talk. Where are you?" Angela asked hurriedly. She was keeping her voice low and Hodgins could hear the urgency in it.

"I'm in the hospital. They won't let me leave." Hodgins replied.

"Is there anyone at the Jeffersonian?" Angela asked next.

"No." Hodgins replied quickly. "Brennan and Cam are here with Opie. Booth is at the FBI building doing something."

"Alright, I need you to get Cam and tell her to call Booth. Tell her to tell him to run a trace on the phone I'm using and then you two need to get over to the Jeffersonian. Bren can stay with Finn. You got that?" Angela said quickly.

"I got it, Ange." Hodgins answered just as quickly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Jack. They haven't touched me, but…" She stopped as she tried to regain her composure. "They're going to make Sweets play Russian Roulette. And he's already in bad shape. If they do anything more to him before they play…"

"We'll be there before you know it." Hodgins answered. "Keep your phone on the line, but hidden. Alright?"

"Alright." Angela agreed. "Love you."

"Love you too, Ange." Hodgins kept his phone open and then clambered off of his bed. He clutched the bed and then took off for the door. His first thought was that he must have been transported into the movie Inception. He felt like the whole building was tipping over and he used the wall to run down the hall the best he can. He heard nurses yelling at him, but he just kept running. He felt like his feet should be on the wall beside him, but gravity won't allow that.

Cam heard the commotion outside and opened the door to be barreled into by a breathless Hodgins. "Hodgins!" Cam cried out as she caught the scientist.

"Angela called." He managed and held out his phone. "You need to call Booth and tell him to trace the call."

Cam's hand flashed to her side in an instant.

_-break-_

Sweets came to and felt worse than he did before. He winced as a bright light hit his eyes and he squinted past it to see a red light from a video camera on a tripod being aimed at him. Beside that he can see the blue glow of a laptop screen.

"Doctor Sweets!" Stephen said excitedly. "Why don't you say hello to your friends at the Jeffersonian?"

"Why don't you?" Sweets snapped back. As his senses started to sharpen he realized the danger he was in. A belt was drawn tightly around his chest and was holding him against a chair. It constricted his chest and made it hard to breath. His left hand was strapped to the metal table so his palm was up. Also on the table was a revolver.

Sweets' head lolled to the side as he tried to look around the room. This was when he realized his left eye was swollen shut. It hadn't been like that before had it?

"Now, now, Doctor Sweets." Stephen purred. He ran his hand along Sweets' head. His other hand was leaning on a baseball bat that he was using as a walking stick of sorts. "Doctor Sweets here is quite the trouble maker." He was speaking to the camera now. "He killed four of my men and injured a fifth. And since Doctor Hodgins has broken his 8 hour window to produce even just _one _dollar we're keeping our promise. Doctor Sweets is going to die. Sixteen hours from now if we do not have the full amount, Angela dies."

"You won't get away with this." Sweets said defiantly.

Stephen took the baseball bat and slammed it against Sweets' open palm. Sweets bit his tongue and tasted blood as he held back his scream. He prayed Angela was on the phone. He prayed that help was on the way.

"Now," Stephen started spinning the bat in his hand. "This is Doctor Jack Hodgins' last chance. He has until Doctor Sweets blows his brains out to produce money as… insurance that his wife remains unharmed and Sweets is returned. Doctor Sweets is going to hold this revolver to his head and pull the trigger. Maybe the bullet's in the first chamber, maybe it's in the fifth." Stephen slammed the bat against Sweets' palm again, urging him to pick up the gun. "It's now or never, Doc."

Sweets knew his chances. 1 out of 6. 17%.

But his brain had switched to profiler mode and it said different. Sweets reached out, pulled the revolver up to his head, and pulled the trigger without hesitation. He slammed the gun back on the table. "Your turn." Sweets challenged.

Stephen was stunned. "What?"

"Russian Roulette isn't played with just one player." Sweets replied. "Then it would be called suicide."

Stephen's grip tightened on his bat and Sweets prepared himself for the blow, but it never came. "Fine." Stephen growled. Sweets smiled.

Stephen picked the gun up and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Two blanks. That meant three more blanks and one bullet were left. One out of four meant 25% chance of getting shot.

"I didn't think you'd do it." Sweets said cockily.

"What, you think I'm a coward?" Stephen asked.

"Something like that." Sweets answered.

Stephen swung the bat again and it cracked against Sweets' ribs and stomach with a sickening crunch. Sweets cried out and then heaved, but his stomach was already empty.

"Pull the trigger, Doc." Stephen instructed.

Sweets, more slowly this time, pulled the gun up to his head. _Click. _He put it back on the table.

Stephen gruffly took it and pulled the trigger. _Click._

Sweets now had a fifty-fifty chance of death approaching. There was a slight tremor in his hand as he reached forward for the gun. _You're a profiler for the FBI. You never saw them load a bullet in. They could be bluffing._ Sweets put the gun against his temple, took a shaky breath, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I know, I know. I'm awful with cliffhangers. Your probably all hate me for this one. XD Also, I 'd like to thank all of you for your reviews, favorites, and alerts! And as I said in my other fic, I haven't been posting lately because I've been busy with school, drama club, and indoor track. Patience is appreciated! (And Patience only shoots Mal.) Thanks!_

_*cookie goes to whoever gets that reference*_


	5. Chapter 5

Booth was stepping on the gas pedal as hard as he could. Beside him was Agent Genny Shaw. Booth had bumped into her on his way in and she'd refused to leave him be. Booth had told her time and time again that this was on his own. The FBI didn't endorse this because of their stupid proof of life policy. If something went wrong it would be totally their fault and they could lose their jobs and possibly be thrown in jail. But once Shaw had heard that Sweets and Angela had been kidnapped she was attached to Booth's hip. Cam was in the back. She was also wearing an FBI Kevlar vest and was loading her gun. She was ticked off and there was no way Booth was going to talk her out of not coming. And, truth be told, Booth was kind of glad an experienced gun was accompanying them.

_-break-_

Hodgins was sitting at the Jeffersonian. He'd been watching the live stream of the Russian Roulette game ever since it had magically popped up on Angela's big screen. His stomach was churning dangerously. Sweets looked awful. And it was his fault. And now Sweets was probably going to die because Hodgins had passed out and couldn't remember the kidnapper's instructions.

Hodgins had flinched the first time the leader had smashed the ball bat against Sweets' hand. He had flinched even more when Sweets had put the gun against his head and pulled the trigger. Hodgins' mind was rapidly calculating the statistics of Sweets' survival compared with Booth's arrival time. Originally, he'd wanted to go with Booth. But considering he still couldn't walk a straight line, it probably wasn't a good idea.

Hodgins watched intently as he noticed Sweets' slight hesitation and he realized that this was 50/50. He was either about to vomit or whoop with joy…

_-break-_

_Click._

Sweets released his breath and a giddy smile formed on his face. He looked up at Stephen. "Your turn."

Stephen, infuriated by Sweets' smile, quickly pulled the gun up to his head. He was about to pull the trigger when he realized what Sweets had tricked him into doing. He'd been played like a piano. He turned the gun on Sweets. Sweets threw all his body weight backwards as Stephen pulled the trigger.

Sweets felt the pressure against his chest loosen and he quickly threw the belt off. He rolled off of the chair and instantly regretted it. His vision doubled and his equilibrium was completely off. He couldn't tell if he was on the floor or the ceiling. He realized blood loss was probably starting to get to him.

The door slammed open and the two men were standing there. They had been prepared to see a dead body when they'd heard the gun go off. Instead they were shocked to see that Sweets was still alive.

But even if Sweets had managed to outsmart Stephen, he wasn't going anywhere. Even with all the adrenaline pouring through his system he was still in immense pain. All his limbs felt like lead and he couldn't bring himself to move anything.

"Go check on the other hostage." Stephen said to Nathan, the man Sweets had tackled earlier. "Get the camera, Joel."

Sweets grimaced as he felt Stephen roll him onto his stomach. He lay there without protest. His muscles screamed at him. His brain told him this was it. He should've just taken the bullet to the head. It would have been so much quicker and easier.

The henchman named Joel brought the camera over. "It's still broadcasting?" Stephen asked.

Joel nodded.

"Good." Stephen replied. He grabbed his baseball bat and struck Sweets' back. Hard.

Nathan and Joel ran out in the other room and caught Angela by surprise. She was holding the phone to her ear. The phone was instantly wrestled out of her hand and Joel grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her behind him.

"Let go of me!" Angela cried.

They drug her out into the hallway and opened the door to where they'd left Stephen and Sweets. Angela looked inside and saw Sweets sprawled out motionless on the floor. He was dead. He had to be dead. Then she noticed his eyes were open and there was still a spark of life behind them.

"She had a phone." Joel said to Stephen.

"What?"

"She must have got it off of me when the Doc wrestled me." Nathan replied.

"We're leaving. Now." Stephen barked. He dropped his bat and bolted out the door. "Leave the doctor. He won't be around much longer anyways."

"They're coming, Sweets!" Angela cried as she was pulled away. "They're coming!"

Sweets managed a weak, "Don't worry."

Angela barely heard him. She was roughly shoved through a door and into the white van that had brought her here in the first place. The psychologist faded out into the sweet bliss of oblivion.

-_break-_

Booth rounded a corner and motioned for Shaw and Cam to stop. He faced the door and kicked it open. The room was pitch black. "Find a light switch." He ordered. Cam stepped into the room and searched blindly. She finally found it and flipped the lights on.

Booth's heart instantly dropped into his stomach. Sweets was sprawled out on his back with his shirt soaked in blood. Booth had seen so many crime scenes like this. The victim sprawled out on the ground unmoving, the weapon covered in blood to the side…

Cam holstered her weapon and rushed to Sweets' side. She gently turned Sweets' head and put her fingers to his neck to check for a pulse. "Come on, Sweets." She begged. Booth and Shaw were still in the doorway. They were too stunned to do anything else.

"He's got a pulse!" Cam declared.

Booth holstered his weapon and pulled his cell phone out to call the paramedics. Shaw rushed over to Sweets' other side. "He should be dead." Shaw said sadly.

"He's not." Cam said forcefully. Tears had welled up in her eyes. "He's gonna make it. He has to…" Her voice faltered. Her shaking fingers started to unbutton Sweets' shirt. Shaw reached over to help. Once his shirt was open they could see all the purple bruises covering his ribs. Cam's expertly trained fingers started feeling all of his ribs to check for breaks.

"Uuuuh." Sweets groaned.

Cam and Shaw looked up and saw Sweets' face contorting in pain. Cam stopped pressing on his ribs.

"Doctor Sweets?" Shaw asked.

Sweets' right eye fluttered open and then back closed. He swallowed hard before answering, "Shaw."

Shaw smiled and pressed her hand against Sweets' shoulder. "Right here."

Sweets' hand brushed past Shaw and rested in Cam's lap. She picked up his hand and squeezed it.

"Cam?"

"Ya, Sweets." Cam answered. A silent tear trickled down her face.

Sweets' good eye popped open. Panic could easily be seen in it. "Did you get Angela?"

Booth knelt down at Sweets' side beside Shaw. "We got her, Sweets." Booth lied. "You did good, kid."

Sweets nodded and his eyes closed again. A moment passed before Sweets asked, "Booth?"

"Ya, kid?"

"Are… Are my toes moving?"

Booth looked down to Sweets' awkwardly splayed out legs.

Nothing was moving.

Booth's eyes met Cam's and they shared a knowing glance.

"Ya, Sweets. They're moving. Don't worry about it, alright?" Booth replied. There was a slight tremor in his voice.

"Don't leave." Sweets whispered and squeezed Cam's hand.

"We're not going anywhere, Sweets." Cam assured.

Sweets' eyes drooped shut and a few minutes later his grip on Cam's hand loosened considerably. "He's out." Cam said as she looked over at Booth.

"I'm going to wave down the ambulance." Booth announced as he left.

_-break-_

Hodgins was still watching the feed. They'd missed Angela by mere minutes. Apparently the thugs had forgotten to turn off the camera. He hurriedly dug out his cellphone and called Booth's number.

"Hello?" Booth answered.

"You guys missed Angela by seconds." Hodgins hurriedly answered. "The live video feed is still on. If you get on the road now I'm pretty sure you can find them."

Booth ran over to his SUV. "Did they give any clues to where they were going?"

"They went out and to the left. I'm assuming that's towards the back of wherever they are, but I could be wrong." Hodgins replied.

"No you're right." Booth jumped in his car and his tires squealed as he backed out. He whipped around the block and found tire marks coming out of the back driveway and into the road. "Listen, Angela still has her phone. I need you to track it for me."

"Got it." Hodgins answered. He ran over and plopped into Angela's office chair. He closed down the live feed and rapidly started searching through the computer. His vision swam slightly, but he forced himself to press on.

"I'm heading on to the interstate. My guess is that if you want to get away fast that's where you're going to go. Call Cam and tell her where I'm going. Tell Cam to call me when the ambulance gets there for Sweets." Booth ordered.

"Got it." Hodgins replied.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Sorry it took so long for the update! It took me a while to arrange this in a way it flowed like it played in my head. Hope you enjoy!_

_(Pssst. I started working on a Live Man in the Coffin sequel.)_


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